Career

Nadkarni entered the cricket scene appearing in the Rohinton Baria Trophy for Poona university in 1950-51. He made his first-class debut for Maharashtra the next year. Two years later he scored his first hundred, against Bombay at the Brabourne Stadium. Nadkarni score his 103* in just over three hours, and added 103 runs for the last wicket Sadashiv Patil.

Nadkarni got a lucky break when he was picked to play against New Zealand in the Test at Feroz Shah Kotla in 1955-56 when Vinoo Mankad rested himself. He scored 68*, but bowled 57 overs in the match without taking a wicket. When Mankad returned, Nadkarni found himself out of the team. Nadkarni became the captain of Maharashtra the same year.

Nadkarni was famous for bowling an unerring line to batsmen which made it nearly impossible to score. It is often told that he used to put a coin on the pitch when he practiced in the nets, and would practice hitting the coin with every delivery. <!-- Please get a good one, not some random article --> He had a career economy rate of less than 2.00 runs per over.

Nadkarni is perhaps best known for his bowling in the Madras Test against England in 1963-64. His figures for the third day of the match, bowling mostly against Brian Bolus and Ken Barrington, read 29 overs, 26 maidens, and no wickets for three runs. He finished...Read More